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Dempsey's Award Winning Pilsner
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Located along the Petaluma River in downtown Petaluma, Dempsey's Restaurant and Brewery has been brewing award winning ales for over 18 years. While they've taken time off from entering the Great American Beer Festival recently, that doesn't mean they can't bring home awards. The most recent was a rather unique award, winning a first place in the Brain of Craft Brewer's contest for their Czech Pilsner.
The focus of the contest was to showcase the versatility of the Nottingham yeast strain. Traditionally this is characterized as an ale yeast, so the idea of using it to brew a pilsner was quite interesting. Dempsey's owner and brewer Peter Burrell says fermenting this beer at lower temperatures (58-60 degrees) kept the ester profile low and providing a cleaner lager-like flavor. The pilsner was then conditioned at 38 degrees for 3 weeks. The ale yeast showed an ability to work well at lower temperatures allowing for a shorter lagering period than a traditional lager.
The resulting beer has a clean profile you'd expect from a pilsner with only a touch of fruity tones. Without knowing this was brewed with ale yeast, it might not be detectable. Peter finishes this brew off with a grassy hop snap that acts as an excellent counterpoint to the chewy pilsner malt flavor that gives this beer the tell-tale pilsner flavor.
Other beers submitted for the competition included an American Ale category and Stout category. A total of 33 microbreweries and brewpubs submitted 70 beers for the competition, all using Nottingham yeast. The best of show award given to Bluegrass Brewing Company of Louisville, KY for their stout. This award was chosen by a panel of 6 expert judges: Steve Dresler (Sierra Nevada Brewing Co), Lauren Salazar (New Belgium Brewing Co), Lyn Kruger (Siebel Institute of Technology), Jamie Floyd (Ninkasi Brewing Co), Keith Villa (MillerCoors) and Matt Stinchfield (BJCP National)
Supplies of the Czech Pilsner are running low, so make it down to Petaluma to try this award winning brew.
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